As one of only three schools nation-wide affiliated with a major museum, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston offers students the opportunity to design a program of study that best suits their needs and goals.

Located in Boston’s Fenway cultural district, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (SMFA), is a unique institution, dedicated to educating artists and focused on fostering creative investigation, risk-taking, and individual vision, by emphasizing studio practice and by offering students an unusual amount of freedom in their coursework.

The Museum School's fine arts programs are distinguished by their interdisciplinary, fully elective nature, and by their individualized format. Through a long-standing partnership with Tufts University, five undergraduate and graduate degree programs are available, including the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), the BFA in Art Education, the Five Year Combined BA or BS with BFA, the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT), and the Master of Fine Arts (MFA).

The SMFA also offers an all studio four-year Diploma certificate and one-year Fifth Year and Post Baccalaureate certificates, as well as evening, weekend and international courses through Continuing Education.

As in an artists' colony, the Museum School's focus is on creative investigation, risk-taking, and the exploration of an individual vision. A large faculty of working artists and an intimate student-faculty ratio of 10:1 provide each student with extensive opportunities for individual consultation and dialogue.

An important part of any art school is its program of exhibitions by students, faculty, and visiting artists. The SMFA provides extensive public programming that includes not only exhibitions but also lecture series and numerous workshops given by visiting artists available to both students and the public.

The Museum School offers more than twenty annual exhibitions that address a variety of interests and goals, from one-person shows by contemporary artists of international stature to highly competitive juried student exhibitions and shows organized by students themselves.